SpaceX’s Starship Transformation: Many Changes are Coming!

Well my friends this has been a bizarre week,  but certainly entertaining. Among the always   intriguing updates at Starbase Texas with the  launch site and the next versions of vehicles,   we had a record breaking Falcon 9 booster  kind of making it. Yea, this was unusual   to see. Of course a major milestone for this  decade with Polaris Dawn almost ready to go,   a final decision for Boeing’s Starliner, and  an almost comical budget update for NASA.   This video is sponsored by Novium, creators of the  Hoverpen, the ultimate gift for space lovers and   tech enthusiasts. Hey Hey, Marcus House with you  here and it has been another exciting week with   plenty of activity at both towers of the launch  site. Let's start off with Pad A preparing to   catch a booster out of the sky with flight 5! Just  a few hours after our video went live last week,   we saw these stoppers being removed from the  tower arms just before 9 AM. These stoppers   were to prevent the tower arms slamming into  the sides of the falling booster during a catch   attempt. Perhaps removing these will allow the  arms more freedom to close in quicker for a catch,   or perhaps new stoppers are coming soon. It has  been a flurry of activity right through the week   with the arms in general. Check out the crew who  were working on installing these silver brackets.   At the time we thought perhaps there were for  mounting more extensive shock absorber pads.   Afterall, the ones that were removed last week  must be coming back in some form right? A week   ago they had a bunch of these on the left and  right arm, but many of these were brought back   down by the middle of the week. What was being  left behind however were these new triangular   points that had been attached. As it turned out,  those are needed for each of the bumper pads we   watched SpaceX tinkering with for the B14.1 test  tank recently. They began rapidly installing these   bumper units on Tuesday evening, and by Wednesday  afternoon they were well underway. Having already   installed 5 by this point, The frenzy carried  on through to Friday afternoon as well, when   workers installed bumper units on the other arm,  with 8 being installed by 5pm. Zooming in you can   see how compact they are as they place them, and  the routine quickly had them installing them even   more rapidly as they worked along. I suspect as soon as they are done here   we’ll be right into testing because Genna Hammer  here caught these great views of changes made to   the lifting points on the B14.1 test tank! As you  can see the lug at the bottom is still the same   as before, but they have now added a horizontal  cylinder on top that looks to allow a crane to   attach to the tank here. If we go all the way  back to Booster 3 in 2021, you can see that   they have a similar system for the lifting points  there. This should be the hardware needed for the   presumed drop tests that should be coming very  soon. We’re betting that what they will do is   quickly lower the test tank onto the arms using  the crane. Some are speculating that they may   entirely drop the tank onto them, but I very much  doubt that. Letting it just freefall isn’t a very   realistic simulation as the real booster will be  under thrust aiming to gently hook on to the arms.  Through the week we had more ongoing work with  the installation of the doubler plates where   they stripped the paint off the week before.  SpaceX kept installing these through the week.   Every one of these will add better support to  resist bending during the upcoming flight 5 catch   attempt. You could think of the arms as a gigantic  lever. A small amount of force at the ends of the   arms means a gigantic strain the closer you  get to the connection point on the tower.  Now moving over to the brand new neighboring  Tower 2, we left you last week having just   stacked the final module 9 stacked. So having all  that in place now, it was time for a little more   protection for the crew down below. There were  already 'catching nets' installed on one of the   lowest segments of the tower; but crews started  raising more of these 'catching nets' afterward   for further protection. On Sunday, another one  of these nets was raised up to the same level,   completing 2 out of 4 necessary  to cover each side of the tower.  Now as we touched on last week, there were  plenty of heavy beams missing from the top   tower 2 section when compared to tower 1. SpaceX  were busy this week lifting these elements into   place. From our views on the ground we can  see it all really coming together very nicely.  Beside the tower, some more good progress on  the flame trench as sheet piles continued to   be pushed into the ground. The majority of these  are now in place to prevent the dirt walls falling   in once the digging starts. This flame trench area  is designed to redirect Starship’s rocket exhaust.   This is going to be really exciting to see. A  water deluge system is expected to blast into   the trench to absorb a colossal amount of the  thermal and kinetic energy bellowing into it   from the 33 Raptor Engines at lift-off. Watching  the build is going to be really interesting,   especially as we are seeing some pools of water in  the surrounding area. That could hamper the flame   trench construction somewhat, but you will recall  that this problem was even more tricky as SpaceX   constructed the flame trench at Masseys. If they  could do it there, they can certainly do it here.  Now over at the build site, work on upcoming  new vehicles has been progressing really well.   Kicking off where we left you a week ago, Mary  from NASASpaceflight caught these four Raptor   Version 2 engines moving into the production  site. Engine number 373 already had some engine   shielding installed here. Remember that Booster  12 has already completed its static fire, and is   now ready for launch according to SpaceX, so these  engines were likely destined for Booster 13. Yes,   that should still be the booster being used for  Flight number 6. That has previously completed   two cryogenic tests at Masseys, but is yet to  undergo any sort of engine testing. On Sunday   a gridfin was spotted moving into Megabay 1 which  is also likely to be for this same booster 13. On   Thursday a 4 ring tall booster forward section was  staged outside Megabay 1. Given that Booster 12   is currently ready for flight, and Boosters  13 and 14 are both already fully stacked,   this one is for Booster 15. This new 4-ring  section actually is the final barrel for the   methane tank so once stacked, all that will remain  is the integration with the oxygen tank. That   will bring them to four fully stacked boosters. We of course also have a fully stacked Starship   Number 33 now. What is most notable about that is  that this is the very first Block 2 vehicle. Over   the past few weeks we’ve quite rapidly seen  the aft sections assembled. We were expecting   a different aft flap design given how unique the  forward flaps here are. Compared to the previous   ones, these are thinner, more angled, and moved  further forward and leeward on the nose cone.   However it seems here that the aft aero covers  are very similar, if not exactly the same to   Block 1. Indeed, it would appear that most of  the optimisation needed for now can be done   with those forward flaps alone. Starship Gazer  caught this ship in the air, and you can see   they’ve installed stringers on the nose cone  area. You will see that some of the stringers   are yet to be installed, and this is the same  story down here for the reinforcements at the top   of the forward section. Yea, they certainly seem  to be in a rush to get these sections out of the   Starfactory. Now are quite a few changes worth  pointing out on the aft section as well. Most   notably are these strips cut out of the vehicle in  the middle here, which could be a redesign of the   outlets Block 1 ships have. These allow SpaceX to  purge out the engine bay to prevent fires that can   damage the internals of the vehicle. Saying that,  there are still some square weld marks down here,   which is in the same area that the outlets are on  a Block 1, so maybe those cutouts are yet to come.   Interestingly they haven’t even begun to add heat  tiles to this section yet at all which is odd.   They certainly did want to get Ship 33 stacked  fast. You may also recall that I talked about   the new quadruple downcomer setup in last week's  video. We can now clearly see the three vacuum   engine lines and the central combined sea level  engine line very clearly here. The engine chill   lines are now much closer to the aft flaps too.  So yea, there’s a lot of fun changes here. If we   look at this shot during the Flight 4 stream  you can see that they’re further in. It also   seems like the chill line is angled out on Ship 33  which should create a slightly different looking   spectacle for future launches and could even mean  the booster no longer needs that line extension.   The best part is no part after all. Now up here  these stringers at the top were also a thing on   Block 1, but were covered by external plates.  I’m wondering if we’ll see that happen here, or   if the stringers will be left plate-less for this  new generation. Just yesterday, the fully stacked   Ship 33 was moved onto one of the stands for  installation of the aft flaps and to just finalize   everything else needed before testing starts. We  should then see it rolling out for cryo testing.  Now the new office building has been screaming  along as the connection to the Starfactory   is being finalized. Just check out the glass  work. It is almost complete on this side. Also,   can you see this? Yea, it looks like  we have a SpaceX logo coming real soon.  Now 2 weeks ago you might remember me talking  about this Block 2 methane header tank being   rolled away. At the time we were thinking it may  have been heading off to the McGregor testing   site, and this week that was confirmed on the  NSF live cameras! You can see here that a mobile   crane lifted the header tank onto what appears  to be some sort of testing stand or testing area.  There has just been so much going on all around  the sites. I just wanted to thank you all so   much for supporting the work we are doing here  no matter if you're watching along subscribed,   or even an incredible paid Member here or on  Patreon or X. We’ve been able to get Shaun working   with us on the ground even more frequently  because of you and I think you’ll agree,   these shots are just beautiful to help explain the  work going on. They really are out of this world.  [Ad Start] Speaking of things that are out of  this world, have you ever seen a Hovering pen   with a genuine piece of meteorite embedded right  into it? This is the Hoverpen, and the sponsor of   today's video. These are not just writing tools,  they’re like having a piece of space awesomeness   right there on your desk. 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We had both  Starlink Group 8 mission 6 from Florida here   ready to take flight and Group 9 mission 5 from  California were planned as back to back to launch   within a few hours of each other. Well, as you  will see from the first of those two missions,   that plan was soon going to change. This Falcon  9 booster 1062 that launched from Space Launch   Complex 40 was actually flying for a record 23  times. It had actually only been around 61 days   since it last took flight. Amazing to think it has  flown this many times. Stage separation there and   a glimpse of the 21 Starlink Satellites there  stacked up on top. Another split set with 13   direct to cell supported satellites on top of  the regular V2 minis. They already have quite   a lot of those satellites up in orbit so there  should be plenty to test with as they continue   proofing the mobile network. Those continued  on to orbit and were deployed successfully,   so yet another uneventful mission success. Well,  overall for the mission, because the booster   itself did not have quite the same result. As  far as I could see there was nothing at all wrong   during the entry burn. Nothing flared up more than  usual or seemed to pop anywhere. A little over a   minute later after passing through the dense  atmosphere, the landing burn fired up. Again,   nothing looked out of the ordinary. Look at that.  Right on target. Looked like a perfect bullseye   coming up. The landing legs extended out and then  as the camera switches, something seemed to pop on   touchdown. Did it land hard? Well, it didn’t seem  that much different to usual, but all the same.   Boom! Let's play this part frame by frame. You  can see a pretty energetic flame pop out there as   the support on the back right leg there fell away.  The flames there are immediately unusual, so yea,   perhaps a few things had ripped free. Right as  the booster hits the deck, the camera switches   away. So yes, landing number 23 on A Shortall  of Gravitas, not quite the smooth touchdown   that we had hoped for. Indeed, that is the end  for Booster 1062 after an incredible run. How   about that! Shortly after SpaceX announced they  were pushing the other Starlink mission backward   so they could investigate that landing, so we were  waiting a little longer. Just yesterday there were   the remains visible to see thanks to incredible  views with humans for scale from Jerry Pike!   Debris is scattered all over the droneship, but  the ship itself is actually looking quite good.   Greg Scott had some great shots of the carnage as  well. Engines brutalized and the legs ripped apart   scattered everywhere. With that action SpaceX and  the FAA needed to run through some mishap steps.   It was announced yesterday that Falcon 9 could  return to flight while the overall investigation   remains open. Indeed, other Starlink launches for  the week were pushed back awaiting this result.  So the most exciting mission of this decade will  have it all! A daring five-day journey into orbit   featuring the first privately funded spacewalk,  the highest Earth orbit achieved by humans in   nearly six decades which would even pass through  portions of the Van Allen belt, and of course many   incredible science experiments done along the  way. Let's start at the beginning! Crew Dragon   Resilience arrived at the hanger to be integrated  with the booster last week. We even got to see   the whole Polaris crew visit and sign the flight  proven booster. It was rolled out with the crew   Dragon integrated. And then before we knew it, up  it went standing patiently at launch complex 39A   right next to the crew tower. Last weekend, the  whole Polaris crew with the SpaceX teams conducted   a full launch rehearsal and we got some stunning  shots of the crew, their suits and the incredible   looking interior of the modified Resilience.  The next day here were views from the booster   static fire and there we had Polaris Dawn set to  launch on Tuesday morning. Unfortunately about 8   hours before T-0 a “ground side” helium leak had  been observed in the Quick Disconnect umbilical,   and the launch was called off for the day. Now  given it was a ground side leak, it had nothing to   do with the Booster or the crew dragon spacecraft  itself. They just lowered it back down, fixed that   up, and raised it back up on Tuesday afternoon.  Safety of the crew is the number one priority,   so with the four remaining in quarantine, we  thought the next day may have been the day.  Sadly not. In fact, they were worried about  the weather forecast for the splashdown at   the end of the mission almost a week down  the line. As the days continued to tick by,   the unfavorable forecast was not looking up.  So yea, no launch this week for Polaris at all   sadly. Falcon 9 and Dragon though remain healthy  and vertical on the pad, so keep an eye on the   launch schedule. We shouldn’t be far away now. Blue Origin this week successfully launched and   landed its eighth suborbital space tourism mission  and 26th overall New Shepard mission. This was   NS-26 taking off from its West Texas spaceport  on Thursday morning. That was its first flight   in over 3 months. There were six passengers on  board this mission who experienced a unique but   brief journey to the edge of space. Along with  the crew a bunch of science experiments went   through the entire mission which lasts almost  exactly 10 minutes. Reaching an altitude on this   flight of around 104 kilometers would be quite  the experience, and provide some brilliant views.   Most of the flight was all from the perspective  of the booster. At 7 minutes and 25 seconds,   that landed, followed a few minutes later by  the capsule itself. We didn’t get any views   of the parachutes on the stream either. I was  curious to see that since the NS-25 flight had   one of the three chutes that didn’t deploy. As  it turned out, Blue Origin released that shot on   social media soon after, and by the looks of  that, there were no issues this time around.  Now as I touched on in last week's video, we  had rumors spreading fast that NASA were about   to select the SpaceX Dragon option for Butch and  Suni to return on rather than Starliner itself.   Indeed that was announced as the decision.  NASA leadership, including Administrator,   Bill Nelson, held a live news conference last  Saturday where they announced that Starliner   would return to Earth autonomously. This allows  NASA and Boeing to continue gathering data on   the Starliner mission without any added risk  for the crew. It sure has been a strange ride   these past few months. From Helium leaks in  the Propulsion system and issues with the RCS   thrusters,this wasn’t looking good right from  the start. I think everyone can agree that this   Starliner crew capsule seemed a far cry from the  highly anticipated and reliable second human rated   spacecraft that it was supposed to be. Of course  the Starliner Crew are now set to become part of   SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission. The current plan is for  this to launch around September 24 if that holds,   and instead of launching with all four crew that  were planned for the mission, it will launch with   only 2. Due to NASA's crew rotation agreement  with Roscosmos, Aleksandr Gorbunov is going to   be one of the two with Nick Hague picked as the  other. That’s a shame for Zena Cardman who was   originally supposed to be this mission’s commander  and now she will not be flying this time at all.   We assume the original Crew-9 Mission profile  will bumped down the track with her retaining   commander status, but that all remains to be seen. Regardless, SpaceX and NASA teams are furiously   working through the checklist of items to ensure  the Dragon capsule is ready to go which includes   of course reconfiguring the seats, and modifying  the manifest to carry more cargo. Some of the most   critical items being Dragon-specific spacesuits  now needed for Butch and Suni. Just think about   all the cost going into reconfiguring this  mission and future missions. It has also been   announced officially just a few days ago that  Starliner will depart the station uncrewed,   on September 6, and land in New Mexico around  six hours later, so that will have the port   up there free well before Crew 9 launches. Now I’ve had a bunch of comments from people   over the months sounding terribly sorry for Butch  and Suni, but I think that is quite misplaced.   These seasoned pros have logged over 500 days  in space between the two of them. Afterall,   they've trained all their lives for the incredibly  tough and slim chance they get to work in space.   With this gigantic mission extension, I suspect  they are thrilled they get to be a part of Crew 9.   As noted by NASA in a recent conference, for Suni,  this flight is a dream because she was unsure if   she would ever return following her last mission  in 2012. Originally expecting to only spend 1 week   in space on this test mission, the two will  now spend over 8 months at the ISS. Indeed,   all four of the Crew 9 team should return home  around February next year. I tell you what,   it was funny seeing this cover of Aviation Week  from 2004 shared around this week. David and   Goliath. Can Tiny SpaceX Rock Boeing. It turns  out that David won… by a ridiculous margin.  In other head scratching news, a new report from  NASA’s Office of Inspector General showed that   NASA development of their second mobile launcher  for the future upgraded Space Launch System is   now estimated to cost a staggering $2.7 billion  dollars. Not that is just the mobile launcher   used to assemble and transport the rocket. Nothing  to do with the rocket itself. Going back to 2019,   originally they had awarded a contract for $383  million aiming to have it delivered last year.   I mean I am always in awe of the engineering that  goes into creating the SLS as part of the Artemis   program, but the costs just don’t seem to relate  to any justifiable reality. That’s just crazy!  Now finally a much more fun update from the James  Webb telescope. I absolutely love this marvel   of engineering. It was launched to peer deeper  into space, and therefore further into the past,   than any telescope before. Every month we are  seeing it test our standard model of cosmology   as far back to the dawn of time as we can. One  of the biggest problems with the current model is   that there appears to be too many massive galaxies  in the early universe. Many of Webb’s observations   seemed to support this too, however, evidence has  since been provided by Webb’s Cosmic Evolution   Early Release Science Survey. This shows that  much of the light emanating from these early   galaxies isn’t coming from starlight but massive  hyperactive black holes that reside within active   galaxies. Well, more so their insanely bright  accretion disks. They are making these galaxies   appear to be much more massive than they  actually are. After compensating for this,   almost all observed galaxies seem to conform to  the current mode. There are still about twice as   many massive galaxies than originally expected  though, so yes, the exact nature of the very   early universe still eludes us a little. It  is nice to see that this is turning out to be   less of a crisis of cosmology and instead being a  real opportunity to fine tune and re-evaluate how   we understand the formation of the universe. So I hope you enjoyed this video! If you did,   don’t forget to subscribe, like, comment,  share, and all that good stuff. If you   want to continue with more space goodness,  check out this video here next, or maybe   these videos. Thanks for watching all this way  through! I will catch you for the next video!